The reports that representatives of PMC Wagner are recruiting Serbian citizens are part of a Western hybrid war aimed at forcing Belgrade to impose sanctions on Moscow. This was expressed by the Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, in an interview with the newspaper. “Evening News”.
“The stories of recruitment of Serbian volunteers and spies are part of a hybrid war and are intended to damage our relations and push Serbia towards Western sanctions,” the diplomat said.
The ambassador noted that he could only discuss issues related to the embassy, but stressed that Russia and Serbia are united by fraternal relations and Moscow respects the laws and traditions of this country. He acknowledged that “some Serbs have a desire to help”, but that their activities “take place outside Russia’s state policy towards Serbia.”
At the end of last year, the heads of the Serbian “People’s Patrol” movement Damnyan Knezevic and Zoran Lekich were in St. “In the conflict in Kosovo. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić urged Knezevic and Lekić to stop trying to recruit Serbian citizens to Wagner, as it is a violation of Serbian law.
Founder of PMC “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin, respectively declarationthat he is not currently a Serbian citizen at Wagner PMC and has not been for a long time. In addition, Wagner noted that PMC fighters had “never been in Serbia” and “had no contact with Serbia”.